Athanassia Athanassiou is a Principal Investigator at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa, Italy, where she leads the Smart Materials Group.
In January 2023, she was appointed Associate Director of IIT for the Nanomaterials Domain, and in August 2025, she assumed the role of Vice Scientific Director of IIT.
She holds a Degree in Physics from the University of Ioannina (Greece, 1996), an MSc in Laser Photonics from the University of Manchester (UK, 1997), and a Ph.D. in Physics from Salford University (UK, 2000), sponsored by British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL).
After her Ph.D., she joined the Foundation for Research and Technology in Crete as a Postdoctoral Researcher, later becoming a Collaborating Researcher (2003–2005). During the same period, she also served as Academic Staff at the Technical University of Crete, School of Applied Technology.
In 2006, she joined the National Nanotechnology Lab (CNR-Istituto di Nanoscienze) in Lecce, Italy, as a Researcher. In 2011, she moved to the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, where she established the Smart Materials Group at IIT@UniLe in Lecce. The group relocated to IIT’s central laboratories in Genoa in 2012, and she obtained tenure in 2014.
Her group, Smart Materials, an interdisciplinary team of about 50 researchers, focuses on developing sustainable materials and technologies that promote both environmental and human health protection .
In 2021, she launched the Sustainability Initiative at IIT, positioning sustainability as a strategic research priority for the Institute. The initiative unified diverse IIT research activities aimed at sustainable solutions for societal and environmental challenges. In 2024, it evolved into an IIT Flagship Program, which she coordinates, the Technologies for Sustainability Flagship, now part of IIT’s Strategic Plan.
Since 2022, she has served as President of the Scientific Committee of the Competence Centre for Economic, Ecological, and Social Sustainability at the Free University of Bolzano. She is also the Founder and Scientific Advisor of the startup Alkivio (founded in 2022), which develops circular economy innovations, including biocomposites from paper residues for applications ranging from construction and houseware to electronics.
Dr. Athanassiou has authored over 500 scientific articles, contributed to numerous book chapters, and served as a scientific editor. She also holds a strong patent portfolio. Over the past eight years, her group has participated in nine EU-funded projects, four institutional projects, and more than thirty collaborations with national and international companies, while also establishing two joint laboratories with industrial partners.